This was a great conversation about the culture of PA Dutch. My family was a typical story of downplaying the language and not passing it on to the next generation. My great-grandparents spoke the language and my grandfather knew the language but did not speak it. My father never knew any of the language, but would, jokingly, refer to himself as a “dumb Dutchman.” And he passed down the traditional foods. There is a lot of PA Dutch that made its way to my generation and I’m proud of it. Growing up in Central PA, I never knew that many of the things were PA Dutch related till I found your RU-vid channel. Thank you for keeping the culture and the language alive.
My great great grandfather came from Germany around the 1860s. One thing I think comes with the culture is industriousness and hard work. I get a lot of satisfaction from that and going back at least 4 generations we've been handymen.
I feel PA Dutch language was lost as our grandparents where wanting to assimilate into their new world and not stand out....perhaps they seen their language difference as a something that prevented them from daily interactions and didn't want that for their children. Today many Spanish speaking folks expect English speaking folks to accommodate their difference. The world today is very different ....thanks for sharing